Mail-bag catcher and deliverer.



No. 826,247. PATENTED JULY 17, 1906.

Q. R. HAWKINS. MAIL BAG GATGHBR AND DELIVEREELQ APPLICATION FILED JAK.23.1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATBNTED JULY 17, 1906.

C. R. HAWKINS. MAIL BAG GATGHER AND DBLIVERER.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 23. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CHARLES R. HAWKINS, 0F CINCINNATI, OHIO.

MAIL-BAG CATCHER AND DELIVERER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1906.

Application filed, January 23,1906- selial NO. 297.502- I T0 at whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES R. IIAw- KINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Catchers and Deliverers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of devices which are adapted for use upon railways for exchanging mail sacks or pouches between moving trains and the various mail-stations along tures of the construction, combination, and

arrangement of the several parts of the improved mail pouch or bag exchanging device whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is rendered simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for use, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a plan view showing one side portion of a mailcar, together with a mail-bag crane, each of these being provided with the improved mail bag or pouch exchanging devices constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a partial section taken in the plane indicated by line a a in Fig. 1 and showing the exchanging devices carried on the car in position for use in discharging and receiving a mail bag or pouch. Fig; 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the devices on the car adjusted out of position for use, so as to be compactly folded out of the way against the car-door. Fig. 4 is a sectional detail view taken lengthwise and vertically through the body portion or member of the device on the mail-car and showing certain features of construction, which will be hereinafter referred to. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the mail-bag crane provided with my improvements adjusted out of position for use. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the mail-bag crane provided with my improvements adjusted in position for use.

In the views, 1 indicates a fragment of the side of a mail-car to which my improvements are shown applied for use, and 2 represents the door of said car at which the mail bags or pouches are commonly received and delivered at the several mail-stations along the line of the railway.

4 indicates as a whole the improved mail bag or pouch exchanging device carried upon the car at the door 2 thereof, and 5 indicates as a whole a like device on a mail-bag crane located alongside the railway-track at one of the mail-stations and provided with devices for reciprocal use in connection with the devices on the car.

Across the car-door 2 is horizontally extended a rod or bar 12, securely held by its ends at the sides of said door and affording a support for the improved pouch-exchanging device 4 on the car, and said device comprises a main member or body portion 6, which has a transverse eyeor bearing at its under side for the passage of the bar or rod 12, the construction being such that the said member 6 is adapted for pivotal or rocking movement in a vertical direction upon the bar or rod 12, except when held by means to be hereinafter explained, and is also adapted to be slidhorizontally and endwise along said bar or rod 12 from one side of the car-door to the other, so as to be conveniently and properly positioned, according as the train is moving in one or the reverse direction along the railway-track.

Upon the body portion or member 6 are carried inner and outer catching-arms 7 7 and 8 8, respectively, the inner arms 7 7 being directed from opposite sides of said member parallel with the length of the car and the outer arms 8 8 having end portions which are inclined outward in opposite directions from the outer face of the car-wall. The arms 7 and 8 are in the same plane, and the central portions of said arms, which are adjacent to the member 6, are spaced apart to produce openings 9 ,wherein the central portions of mail bags or pouches are adapted to be received and securely held. The outer arms 8 are also provided with projections 10 at the outer ends of the openings 9 and directed toward the arms 7 for preventing the said mail bags or pouches from slipping out of said openings 9 and being accidentally dropped after they have once been received in the said openings 9.

3 indicates the post or upright of the mailbag crane whereon the device 5 is mounted, and said device 5 is substantially similar to the device 4 on the car, as above described, except that it is pivotally held by means of a clip 12 upon said post or upright 3. vices 4 and 5 are mounted in different planes, so as to be adapted to clear each other as the car 1 moves past the crane, the device 4 on the car being in a plane above the device 5 on i the crane.

11 11 represent generally the means for supporting the mail bags or pouches in position to be engaged and caught by the arms of the devices 4 and 5 on the car and crane,

* out from the car, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2.

the device 11 on the car being sup orted by the member 6 of the device 4 and eing extended out from the car in position to permit 1 the bag or pouch su ported thereon to be received and engage by the device 5 on the crane, and the device 11 on the crane comprising upper and lower members, one carlied on the post 3 above device 5 and the other carried by the member 6 of said device,

The desaid upper and lower members being extended out toward the track in position to hold the bag or pouch ready to be caught by the device 4 on the car. The structure of the devices 11 11 on the car and crane will be hereinafter described.

Owing to the pivotal connection of the member 6 of device 4 with the rod or bar 12 across the car-door, said device 4 may be extended horizontally from the side of the car, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in position for convenient use and operation or may be dropped down into com act folded position against the outside of t e car-door, as shown in Fig. 3, and for the manipulation of the device 4 in and out of position for use the member 6 is provided with a handle 13, adapted to extend into the door 2 of the car When the device is in position for use.

15 is a latch pin or bolt carried in the member6 in position for engagement in a keyway 14, longitudinally extended in the upper face of the rod or bar 12 in suchaway that said bolt when engaged in said keyway, as seen in Fig. 4, securely holds the device 4 in horizontallyextended position for use.

16 is a latch-lever pivoted on the top face of member 6 with one end engaged with an eye in the upper end of bolt 15, the opposite end of said lever forming a handle 17 extended above the shank ofthe handle 13 of member 6 in position to be engaged by the tapered face of a locking collar or sleeve 18, movable endwise on said shank, so that when said sleeve or collar 18 is moved up on the shank its engagement beneath the handle 17 of lever 16 will serve to hold said lever against ivotal movement, whereby the bolt 15 is lield engaged in the upper keyway 14 of the rod or bar 12 to maintain the horizontal position of the device 4. When the collar 18 is reversely moved, lever 16 may be pivotally moved to withdraw the bolt 15 from keyway 14 of rod or bar 12, so that the member 6 may be pivotally swung downward into a compact folded position against the outer side of the car-door, the bolt 15 being in position (in Fig. 3) ready for engagement with the side keyway 14 in rod 12..

The device 11 on the car comprises a shaft or stud 19, held for turning movement in the member 6, as seen in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, and provided with a crank-handle 20 at its upper end, by means of which the device may be set in position for use in holding a mail bag or pouch with its members or arms extendBed 6-- low the member 6 the shaft 19 has a head 21, from which is extended an angular upper arm 22, adapted to support the upper end of a mail bag or ouch, and upon said head 21 is also pivotal y mounted for movement in a vertical direction the forked upper end of a downwardly and outwardly curved lower member or arm 23, designed for engagement with the lower end of the mail bag or pouch to hold the same securely in place while passing the mail-bag crane, so that such bag or pouch may be delivered to the arms 7 and 8 of the device 5 on said crane.

When the device 4 on the car is swung downward against the car-door out of operative position, the pivotally-movable lower arm or member 23 of the device 11 will fall by gravity in position alongside the upper arm 22 as seen in Fig. 3, so that there is no unnecessary projection of the parts beyond the side of the car. The pivotal connection of stud 19 with the member 6 permits the arms 22 and 23 to swing freely in a lateral direction, so that they may be automatically disengaged from the mail bag or pouch at the instant the same is seized or caught by the device 5 on the crane.

The device 11 at the mail-bag crane comprises an upper arm or member 24, pivotally connected with one end of a lever 26, which in turn is pivotally held by a bolt 27 to the upper end of the post 3 and hasits rear end 28 adapted, when said arm 24 is moved rearwardly, so as to overlie said lever 26, as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 5, to overbalance the forward end, whereat said arm 24 spivoted, so

that the lever wiil automatically move to the upwardly-inclined position. (Seen in dotted lines in said figure.) When the arm 24 is moved to extend it from the forward end of lever 26 in position to support the upper end of a mail bag or pouch, as seen at m, said arm 24 will be engaged in a grooved projection on the front end of the lever, which serves as a yielding resistance to hold the arm extended in position to deliver the supported mail-bag to the device 4 on a passing car. The resistance thus afforded to pivotal movement of arm 24 is not suflicient, however, to prevent such movement of said arm on delivery of the pouch or bag to the car.

The lower arm or member 29 of the device 11 at the mail-bag crane is pivotally held to the member 6 of the catching device 5 on the post 3 and is adapted when in position for use to be extended out in front of said memher 6, as seen in Fig. 6, so as to permit of engagement with the lower ring of the pouch or bag to hold the same against swaying with the wind. This arm or member 29 also serves to support the device 5 in horizontally-extended position, as seen in said figure, and when the bag is delivered to the car said arm swings pivotally to automatically free itself from the pouch, after which the device 5 is free to drop down against the front side of post 3, as seen in Fig. 5, so as not to be in the way of passing trains.

In mounting the crane alongside the track I prefer to extend three of the ties to the position in which the crane is to stand, as seen at 30 in Figs. 4 and 5, and across these ties I extend a strip 31, against the center of which the front face of the post 3 is arranged to abut. 32 32 indicate inclined braces at opposite sides of the post with their lower ends connected with the outer ties 30 at the rear face of the strip 31, and 33 represents a rear brace extended from the central tie 30 in an upwardly-inclined direction to the rear face of post 3. In connection with the crane I also prefer to provide a folding ladder by means of which the attendant may conveniently position the pouch or bag for delivery to a passing train. This ladder, as herein shown, has a section 34, fitted closely against the lower part of the post 3, and an inclined section 36, the upper end of which is held, as seen at 35, to the upper end of section 34, a brace 37 being provided for holding said section 36 securely in position for use. By means of this ladder access may be had to the upper part of the crane for suspending the bag or pouch therein in position for delivery to a passing train.

In the operation of the improved mail-bag receiving and discharging means a mail-bag may be suspended from the device 11 on the car and will thus bein line with the arms 7 and 8 of the catching device 5 on the crane, the device 5 being of course horizontally extended from the car for use. bag may be suspended bythe device 11 on the crane and will thereupon be in position for engagement and delivery to the catching device 4 on the car, so that as the car passes the crane the bags supported by the car and crane, respectively, will be caught and retained by the catching devices 5 and 4 on the crane and car without requiring any particu- Similarly, a

lar attention on the part of persons on the car, the contracted nature of the opening 9, in which each bag is caught, and the provision of the projection 10 on arm 8 serving to securely hold each bag and prevent it from dropping down to the road-bed.

From the above description of my improvements it will be seen that the improved mailbag receiving and discharging means is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and is especially well adapted for use by reason of the certainty of its operation without requiring attention on the part of the mail clerks and of the security with which the bags are held to prevent them from dropping down to the road-bed, where they may be cut to pieces by the wheels of the train, and it will also be obvious from the above description of my improvements that the device is capable of some modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts of the device as herein set forth in carrying out my invention in practice.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1 In a device of the character described, the combination of a car having a horizontally-extended rod provided with a longitud1- nal keyway, a catching device having a member pivotally mounted on the rod and provided with a handle, a latch device, on said member having engagement with the keyway of the rod for locking the catching device in horizontally-extended position and a slide-collar movable len thwise on the sleeve and having an incline surface for engagement with said latch device to lock the same against movement.

2. A device of the character described comprising a main member, a part pivotally mounted thereon for movement in a horizontal direction and upper and lower bag-supporting arms extended from said part.

3. A device of the character described comprising a main member, a part pivotally held on said member for movement in a horizontal direction and upper and lower arms extended from said part and adapted to support a bag, the lower arm being pivoted for movement relatively to the upper arm in a vertical direction.

4. A device of the character described comprising a main member, a shaft held to turn thereon and provided at its upper end with a crank-handle and upper and lowerbagsupporting arms held on the lower end of the shaft, the lower bag-supporting arm being held for pivotal movement toward and from the upper arm in a vertical direction.

5. In combination with a main member, a part horizontally and pivotally mounted IIO thereon, upper bag-supporting arms sustained from said part so as to have movement in a horizontal rotary plane, and lower bag-supporting arms pivoted to said upper arms so as to have movement in a vertical rotary plane and to partake of the horizontal rotary movement of said upper arms.

6. In combination with a support, a lever pivotally connected thereto, a bag-supporting member pivoted to the forward end of .said lever and extending outwardly therefrom to sustain said lever in horizontal position and adapted to be swung rearwardly to overlie said lever and overbalance the forward end thereof, and a second bag-supporting member sustained from said post.

7. In combination with a main member, a part horizontally and pivotally mounted thereon, a pair of spaced supporting-arms having movement with respect to one another to increase or diminish the space therebetween, and means for operating said arms to move the same in a horizontal rotary plane in unison.

CHARLES R. HAWKINS. Witnesses:

JOHN ELIAS JoNEs, WILLIAM SoHUoHARDT. 

